Zhilina has reimbursed the federation for the cost of her training and competition dresses. “Veronika’s camp has tangible arguments to present to the ISU commission to allow her transfer to Azerbaijan.”
Veronika Zhilina pays compensation to the Russian Figure Skating Federation.
original source: RSport / Telegram
According to R-Sport, Veronika Zhilina has paid one million rubles (12600 USD approximately) to the Russian Figure Skating Federation as compensation for her training. Zhilina plans to switch her sporting citizenship from Russia to Azerbaijan.
The funds were paid for two seasons (2023/24 and 2024/25) as well as for three calendar years. Additionally, Zhilina reimbursed the federation for the cost of her competition dresses. The total amount came to approximately one million rubles.
On May 13, the Executive Committee of the Russian Figure Skating Federation (FSFR) denied Zhilina’s request to transfer to Azerbaijan. The skater, who trains at Evgeni Plushenko’s academy, has reportedly been a resident of Azerbaijan since 2023. She has not competed in tournaments in Russia for the past two years.
Journalist Vladislav Zhukov has also reported that the International Skating Union (ISU) has not yet made a decision regarding Veronika Zhilina’s transfer from Russia to Azerbaijan.
Sputnik Azerbaijan reported that ISU also rejected the transfer due to the absence of a release letter from FSFR. Zhukov, however, clarified this in his commentary:
“The situation surrounding Veronika Zhilina’s potential move to Azerbaijan is becoming more interesting. I must refute what Sputnik reported — ISU has not yet made any decisions regarding Veronika. However, it does seem that the issue will ultimately be reviewed.
The Zhilina camp might reference precedents from the recent past. Yes, we all recognize that FSFR has its own quarantine period (two years from the moment a transfer request is submitted), and yes, it’s clear that the request for Veronika was made in the spring of 2025.
But for example, Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin found themselves in a very similar situation. At the time of their transfer, they were still formally part of the Russian national team. Their request also came just a couple of months before the decisive FSFR meeting. They hadn’t technically completed their quarantine period either, yet they reimbursed the necessary funds for their training, and their release was granted.
In Diana and Gleb’s case, there was a release letter, while Veronika has none — despite the fact that Davis and Smolkin had gone 496 days without competition, and Veronika has been without starts for 851 days (I think this might be a national record for transfers). Why? It’s a good question for the ISU commission.
Let’s look further. When Sofia Samodelkina transferred to Kazakhstan, she had been without competitions for 484 days. It’s possible this was influenced by her possession of a passport and residency status—and yes and no. ‘Yes’ because, indeed, these factors played a role.
‘No’ because Veronika Zhilina, as far as I know, has been a resident of Azerbaijan in some form since 2023. She recently even became a citizen of the country. And yet, there’s still no release letter.
We can also recall the case of Sofia Titova, who went only 221 days without competition before transferring to Armenia. At the time of her transfer, like Veronika, Titova hadn’t yet received her Armenian passport (it was issued just a few days later). However, Titova did have a release letter.
This is not meant as criticism of any of the aforementioned athletes — I’ve always emphasized that transfers are not inherently bad; everyone has their own path. The key point here is that with these circumstances, Veronika’s camp has tangible arguments to present to the ISU commission.
Let’s see how it turns out. I believe the ISU’s verdict will ultimately be favorable one way or another,” Zhukov wrote in his Telegram channel Lapidarnost.
Related topics: ISU, Veronika Zhilina
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